


Remember?

by Cloud_Drizzle



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Amnesia, Fluff, M/M, Memory Loss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-20 23:27:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20683694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cloud_Drizzle/pseuds/Cloud_Drizzle
Summary: Zim losses his memory and Dib is closer than ever to exposing him as an alien... Or is he?





	1. A Normal Day...?

Twas a normal day as any other. Dib woke up, ate breakfast, and then headed out to Zim's house to spy on his evil. Now that summer break had started almost a week ago, Dib had even more time to stop Zim's evil plans. That also meant Zim has more time to MAKE evil plans. 

And so Dib headed out, like any normal day. 

It was almost evening, and Dib was still sitting in a bush outside of Zim's house. He waited, waited, and waited. Zim never left his house. Odd. Zim usually leaves his house by now to stir up some sort of trouble?

The door opened.

This was Dib's time to shine! Today would be the day where he finally captures Zim!

Dib leaped out of the bush and tacked Zim, pinning him to the ground. Raspberry coloured eyes looked up at him in interest and slight confusion. Dib reflected Zim's look of confusing as he realized that the alien currently underneath him wasn't in his usual disguise... Odd...

"Hello!" The tiny green space man finally spoke, breaking the confusing silence between them, "Do I know you?"

Dib flinched back. What on Earth could Zim be planning? Faking memory loss? That's just sick, "Uh yeah. You do."

"Oh," Zim paused, "okay!" He smiled at Dib, who was still awkwardly lingering above him. 

Zim's antenna twitched, waiting for some sort of response. Dib's attention snapped to the pose they were in. Immediately Dib stood back up, leaving Zim awkwardly laying on the ground. 

"What's your plan this time, Zim? Faking amnesia?" Dib finally spoke.

"Zim... Zim... That is me! I AM ZIM!" Zim screamed as he bounced off the ground, landing upright on his feet.

Dib shot Zim a confused look and nodded, "yeah..."

"Ziiiiim..." The Irken whispered to himself. He looked up at Dib, "and who are you supposed to be? Some sort of weird space monkey?"

"Space monkey? Zim you aren't even good at faking your own memory loss" Dib said throwing his hands up to exaggerate his point. 

Zim just stared at the infuriated Dib. He slowly blinked, unsure of what to say. 

"Zim?" Dibs said quietly, "you are faking amnesia... Right? Because this isn't funny."

"I like beans." Zim responded, just as quietly as Dib. Dibs just stands there, yet the awkward silence is broken by Zim, "What are beans?"

Dib paused for a moment, and then realized something, "Hey... You're gnomes, aren't they usually on?"

Zim tilts his head to the side.

"They haven't attacked me," Dib continued, "you would never turn them off, would you?"

Zim stuck his tongue out.

"You really have lost your memory haven't you!" Dib turned his back to Zim so he could talk to himself for a brief moment, "This is amazing! If Zim doesn't have his memory I could turn him in and he wouldn't even fight me!" Dib turned back around to face Zim, who had been standing there flicking his tongue like a snake the whole time, "Zim! How would you like to come to my house?"

"Whats a house?" 

This certainly wasn't a normal day, as previously thought. But this day would be better, MUCH better than any normal day.


	2. Stars

The human and the irken entered the Membrane home. Dib keeping a close eye on the little irken who previously claimed to have lost his memory. Dib still didn't trust Zim. 

"Dad! Dad!" Dib called out while running around the house, Zim's hand in his grasp to prevent him from running off. The irken was unfazed as he was dragged up and down the halls and stairs. 

Eventually Dib finds Professor Membrane in the kitchen, "Yes son, what is it?"

"Wait but I checked the kitchen," Dib spoke to himself in confusion, "nevermind that- Dad look!" Dib lifted Zim's arm up.

Professor Membrane looked over at his son and then back down to whatever he was working on at the kitchen table, "yes, yes very nice"

"Nice??" Dibs shouted, throwing his hands down, "do you even realize what this means?!"

"Oh son, I already knew you and your green friend were together. You don't-"

"WOAH! That is not what is happening here!" Dib shouted, infuriated by his dad's claim. 

"It isn't?" His dad gestured to Dib and Zim's interlocked hands. Dib immediately lets go. 

"No! Look! He's an alien, dad! Completely out of his disguise and everything!"

"Mhm, very nice costume son, but Halloween isn't-"

"IT'S NOT A COSTUME!" Dib yelled, stomping off to his room while dragging Zim behind him by the arm.

"Well he seems nice!" The little alien chirped as Dib swung his bedroom door open. After making sure the two of them were in, he closed to door behind them and let go of Zim's tiny wrist.

"Not really," Dib laid on his bed and stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the ceiling of his room. He had put them up recently after finding them at a dollar store and deciding it was a good use of his money. Whether it was actually worth it or not is another question, sure they were cheap, but they barely worked. 

Zim crawled awkwardly onto Dib's bed and copied his position. The alien looked up at the fake stars with wonder. 

"Ohh, those look like a shape!" Zim said pointing up at a portion of the stars that looked purposefully placed, as if it was something special. 

"Hm?" Dib hummed as he followed Zim's finger to see where he was pointing, "oh, yeah some of these are shaped as constellations- eh but eventually I got bored and started just sticking them up there."

Zim chirped in acknowledgment as he continued to study the stars and their shapes- trying to figure out if he recognized any constellations. Alas he couldn't remember much of anything. 

Eventually the alien noticed a grouping of star that looked like they had meaning. He immediately shoved his hand into the air to point, almost hitting Dib's glasses off of his face in his hurry. 

After Dib readjusted his glasses, he looked up to follow Zim's finger, "oh, that's just the big dipper. It's a pretty basic one. I've got a few up there that most people have never even heard of!"

"Big dipper..." Zim repeated. He lowered his arm down and rested it upon his chest. The small alien gazed at the cluster of stars in awe as his antennas twitched in amazement. 

Zim being so amazed with the glow-in-the-dark stars amazed Dib, but he was certainly starting to enjoy memory-loss Zim. Now that Zim wasn't out to destroy the planet, he was nice to be around. Oh also, he wasn't screaming every five seconds. That was a nice change, Dib decided. 

Dib frowned as he thought. What if Zim does get his memory back? Will he go back to hating Dib? And what was Dib supposed to do now? He didn't want to turn in Zim now that he was the closest thing to a friend he ever had. Detecting Zim was the last thing on Dib's to-do list now. 

Odd that admiring stars completely changes Dib's opinion on Zim. But it was more than just glow-in-the-dark stars. Dib was just happy to have a friend. Even if it was simply his enemy who lost his memory.


	3. Morning Chatter

It was quiet.

Too quiet...

Especially since Zim was here.

Dib opened his droopy eyes, just then taking in the fact he somehow let himself pass out in the same room as his enemy. Former enemy? The lines were a bit blurry at the moment. 

Blurry! Dib shot up quickly and hastily looked for his glasses through hazy vision. He couldn't remember taking them off, yet his sleepy hand had found them peacefully resting on his wooden night stand. Dib's fingers curled around the frames, careful not to touch the fragile and easily dirtied lenses. 

Dib slowly pushed his glasses onto the bridge of his nose. The world now looked completely different, it was clear again. Just how it should be. 

Sun light shone from the small circular window above his bed. The room glistened with florescent harsh light, Dib's eyes still struggling to adapt to the change in lighting. 

Dib hesitantly scanned the room searching for the little green alien he had some how allowed to stay the night. Finally his tired eye's rested as he found a light blue blanket resting in a unfamiliar place. It sat wadded up at the end of his violet coloured bed, pushed against the wall. 

After studying the odd blue blanket for some time, Dib realized that it was moving. A pattern, he concluded. Up, down, up, down. Dib leaned forward, reachign a hesitant hand out as he grasped the soft light blue blanket in his right hand, his left being used for balance. The fuzzy cloth was only slightly pulled before Dib took notice to what was lurking in it. 

His small green alien "friend", was fast asleep. Curled up like a cat, though Dib was thankful he wasn't actually a cat because of his allergies. Even Dib would agree that cats are cute, though. 

Do Irkens even need sleep? This is something Dib didn't know, but had wondered a lot. For how quickly Zim seemed to come up with new plans to destroy the Earth, it was almost like he worked day and night. 

Zim opened a raspberry coloured eye and glanced over at Dib, who was staring at him, a hand still grasping the blanket. 

Zim threw his petite arms up above his head and stretched him body out. Zim closed his previously open eye as he pulled his body similar to a feline. Maybe Zim really is a cat, Dib thought. 

"Mornin'," the Irken greated as he smiled up at Dib, sleep still filling Zim's bulging eyes as he tried to open them. Failing, Zim decided to close his eyes once again.

"Yeah, morning," Dib half-heartedly replied, not really wishing to great the Irken, but doing so anyways. He thought back to Zim sleeping, something about that just didn't seem right, "Hey, Zim?"

"Hm?" Zim hummed in response, not quite awake enough for a proper response. 

"Do Irken's even need sleep? I've never seen you sleep before," Dib questioned, now capturing Zim's attention. 

Zim slowly sat up, a confused look was plastered upon his face, "Irken?" Zim repeated, as if he had never heard of the foreign word until then. 

"Yeah... You know, what you are?" Dib clarified, confusion now claiming him as well. 

"What... I am?" Zim repeated once more.

"You..." Dib paused, trying to decipher what was happening. He obviously knew that the small Irken had forgotten most of his memory, but Zim didn't even know what species he was anymore! "... Don't remember?" He finally finished after a longer-than-needed pause.

Zim looked down, ashamed of now knowing how to answer. Dib stared at Zim, feeling guilty as the alien desperately searched for an answer. Zim was unable to find a proper response to the question no matter how hard he tried. Frustrated, he firmly grasped onto his odd black antennas, almost crushing them. Zim's eyes started to water.

"Wh- hey! Don't... Don't..." Dib gently gripped onto Zim's hands, attempting to loosen his tight grasp on his antennas. After a moment of fidgeting with Zim's hands, Dib was finally able to get Zim to let go. They looked at each other, Zim crying as if he had just done something terribly wrong. Dib tried to search for an explanation, but after being unable to think of one, he chose to simply ask, "What's wrong?"

Zim sniffed and wiped a tear from his left eye, switching his gaze back down to the bed sheet below them. Zim desperately searched for an answer all while avoiding eye contact the best he could, "I... I don't know. I just..." Zim paused, as if he himself was trying to figure that out himself, "I couldn't think of an answer and... All these emotions just came flooding in!" Zim looked back up at Dib, who hadn't looked away the whole while. 

Dib anxiously bit his lower lip, he wasn't expecting to ever see Zim bawling in his lifetime. He almost felt guilty, though it wasn't really his fault. 

Dib decided to switch the conversation topic, or at least start a new one as he wasn't even sure what this topic was. Emotions maybe? Not exactly what Dib wants to talk about, "So Zim, what's your earliest memory? Maybe we can get you your memory back if we know what caused it."

"My memory? Is that why Zim can't figure out these emotions?"

"Yeah, probably at least," Dib answers honestly, yet hesitant as the complete truth is unknown to Dib as well. 

"Well..." ZIM paused, unsure of how to continue as he searches his memory to try and think of something to say. He remembered blurs of things. A robot, a toilet, a cup, water, and- "lightning."

"Lightning?" Dib cocked his head to the side, unsure of what Zim meant. 

"No, but yes," Zim stood up on Dib's bed, "I remember... Somethingsomethingsomething... Oh and- sparks! Shocks! Lightning! Boom!" Zim sprawled his arms out, violently shaking and swaying then in a way to emphasize his point.

Sparks? What would cause sparks and Zim to loose his memory? Dib studied Zim as he flailed about, continuing to make loud crackling sounds. His PAK! That's important, right? Something must have happened! 

A long while back, Dib had stolen Zim's PAK and it almost killed the small alien. During that fun time, the PAK had attached itself to Dib and it did something to him. He wasn't really sure what, but something happened. It was if Zim's memory and personality were stored onto it...

What if they really were?


	4. An Organised Mess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaA sorry for not updating in a long time! I forgot to actually write very often but I saw how much people seemed to enjoy this so I decided to try and update it! Thank you for being patient with me and hope you enjoy :,00

Papers were scattered around the room, looking like an organized mess. The ceiling light flickering every few seconds. It was quiet and still. Dib stood in the middle of the room, looming over the hastily placed papers and giving them all a quick glance. Research, that's what these were. All of these papers were very, very important to Dib. Each and every one of them had something important about irkens. Many of the papers had very minute details, so minute in fact that most would glance over it and decide it isn't important enough to jot down. But Dib knew better. Every little detail about irkens was important. All of them. 

The small alien plopped down next to some of the papers studied them with a bored, yet somehow still intrigued, expression plastered on his face. Suddenly, his emotion swapped to one of amazement and interest as his eyes landed upon a paper with a drawing. Zim reached out his small gloved hand to grasp at the paper but was swatted away with a ruler that Dib had been using to set up his papers in an "organised" manner. 

Zim pouted at this rejection, he wanted to see the drawing! Dib studied him to make sure he wasn't going to try to grab it again. When he felt satisfied he turned his back to Zim and continued laying papers out.

"Why do we have to do this? This is boring!" Zim whined loudly.

Dib grunted, this is the fifth time Zim has called this boring and it was finally starting to irk him. "Because, this may help you jog your memory," Dib informed, "and even if it doesn't, you should at least know the basics of your own species."

Zim's antennas drooped down as he continued to pout. He crossed his arms and impatiently waited. After what seemed like ages, Dib finally was done, "Okay!" He began, "I've got all the papers placed perfectly!"

The room looked like a mess, but Dib didn't see it that way. In fact, it was so much MORE than a mess, it was his LIFE! Zim, however, didn't see the value in the mess. He saw it for what it was- a mess. 

"Okay, I know this looks like a mess-" Zim is getting tired of how many times the word "mess" is being repeated in his thoughts, "- but I know what's going on here so you just gotta trust me!" 

Trust is a silly thing, especially when it comes to trusting your worst enemy. Zim didn't have any reason to not trust him, as far as he knew they were the best of friends to ever set foot on this rock of a planet. 

"Okay, so," Dib spun around looking for the correct section to begin. Dib thought for a moment on where to start, eventually deciding on the PAK, "Let's start with your PAK."

"My pack?" Zim tried to repeat, not fully understanding what Dib was trying to say.

"Your PAK, it's that weird metal backpack looking thing you have attached to you" Dib felt weird about someone actually listening to stuff about Zim for once. Even though it was Zim listening about Zim. Dib doesn't know how to feel. Happy? 

Zim spun around similar to a dog chasing its tail in an attempt to look at the odd metal contraption stuck to him. Eventually, he gave up and resorted to trying to rip it off to take a look at it. The moment Zim's tiny hands made it's way to the base of the PAK, Dib quickly pulled Zim's wandering hands off of himself. 

"Don't!" Dib shouted, causing Zim to jump, "Don't take it off!" He kept his hands wrapped around Zim's smaller wrists to make sure he wouldn't try again. When he felt safe, he let them go. Zim's face was covered in a look of confusion. Dib sighed, it's like trying to teach a toddler not to eat legos, "Don't take it off until I tell you how it works, it could hurt you."

Zim's facial twisted into one of utter fear, he frantically tried to glace at the PAK without spinning, "h-hurt me?!" He tried to sit as still as possible as if trying not to anger the giant metal beast that's connected to his flesh.

"Only if you take it off! If you don't remove it, you're safe" Dib quickly reassured, feeling bad for scaring the small alien so much. 

"I'm safe?" Zim questioned in a whisper.

"You're safe" Dib spoke softly

Zim quickly relaxed and seemed a lot less tense going forward. Dib told Zim about everything he knew dealing with irkens. He told Zim about the PAK, how it stores an irken's memory and personality and was what kept an irken alive. He told Zim about the few things he knew of irken anatomy, such as the squeedily spooch- which he still has no idea how it functions. Eventually, he got to irken society.

Zim sat in silence as Dib explained to Zim how the irkens were ruled by the Tallests and had no freedom. Zim sat in silence when he was told that irkens are crazy planet killing and enslaving machines when cared for nothing but their people. Zim sat in silence as Dib told him of the countless crimes the irkens have committed towards other planets.

Zim sat in silence for all of it. 

"Was I evil?" Was the only thing Zim could muster.

Dib didn't know how to answer this. Of course, Zim was evil, but he certainly isn't right now. If he knows that his past self was evil, would he go back to his evil ways or could it inspire him to change? Could telling the truth cause him to lose the only person he'd ever been able to get close to calling a friend?

Dib decided that he was tired of not having friends. 

"No, you weren't evil."


End file.
